Bookworm, Any Novel Study Guide Users….

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  • momto2blessings
    Participant

    Using this yet? Any advice on making it simple? I’ve yet to use it, ugh!!!  Planning on starting next week. I feel like my 7th grader already has plenty on her plate, so I don’t want this to be burdensome. Is it possible to do a lot orally, not analyzing every chapter, etc. to get the general pricnciples and get our feet wet for now?  Not sure what my goal should be for this age.  Thanks for any input! Blessings, Gina

    Bookworm
    Participant

    I have not managed to work it in yet, it’s my own schedule problem, not my son’s—I keep hoping to get to it and just haven’t had time.

    HiddenJewel
    Participant

    It’s on the docket for lit next year combined with Excellence in Literature so haven’t dived in yet.

    Is your 7th grader already doing a lit program? If so, not sure that more would need to be added. If not, it would be good to start including. 

    momto2blessings
    Participant

    Bookworm, if you get it figured out, please share:)

    HiddenJewel, we are using a writing program (Write with the Best), a spelling and grammar program, and she reads classic books and does some written narrations.  But no lit. analysis in any of those. Guess I just need to get on the ball?  🙂  Gina

    pslively
    Participant

    When I first printed it all out, I decided that it would be too much to just dive in to doing all of it at once.  I have planned for us to gradually ease into it this year.  My daughter is 11 years old and in 6th grade.  I absolutely do not want to make her hate reading or look upon it with because she has to analyze everything to death.  

    For our first two books, Emma and the Prince and the Pauper, all she did was the chapter summaries.  I gave her a composition book for this.  She has a table of contents page in the front, numbered all the pages in the comp book, and she will write her chapter summaries for each book she reads in there.  Oh, and she also writes down any vocabulary words that she comes across.  If she doesn’t know the meaning of the word, she writes it down and looks it up later.  

    This week she started Great Expectations.  We will continue with the summaries and vocabulary.  We will also add in the character analysis parts of the study guide.  This weekend I will look through them and decide exactly how that’s all going to work.  My tentative plan is to have her read all week, and then on Friday do a page or two of the character analysis work.  I will not have her working on the Any Novel pages every day.

    I am doing all of this work on my own, as well.  I think it helps her, as she is starting out on this process, to see that I am working through the same things.  Also, since this is our first time with this program, I really want to try it out myself and get a feel for how much of it is beneficial and how much of it is busywork.  I will not continue doing all of the work alongside her  after I get a good feel for the program.  

    I forgot one other thing.  I remember that there are some projects in there where they can choose what they want to do.  (It’s been several weeks since I really looked through it so I’m just going on memory here.)  I am going to look at whether or not to add those in for this book or wait for the next book.

    I would love to hear about your plans when you make them.  I am trying to walk a fine line between an enriching study of literature and a mind-numbing exercise in pointless literary analysis and criticism.  

    momto2blessings
    Participant

    pslively…thanks for sharing how you do it! You’ve given me some good ideas for a starting point.  I’m not sure yet how we’ll use this. I just know that it feels like too much to go step-by step as scheduled….

    Right now, she already does voc. words from her readings. I think I’ll give her a separate notebook just for lit. analysis and have her also list some pages for chapter summaries and character sketches.  Then once a week go through the guide w/her (liked that idea!) and spend some time doing the added lessons, probably doing a lot orally. I’m hoping this is enough for this year. Then maybe next year have her do more of it, and more independently. In h.s., I plan to use a more formal program….so I’m hoping that this will give enough exposure, but not make her hate literature, as you said:)

    So…no new ideas from me…but thanks for giving me some good ideas to slowly get started w/this:) Blessings, Gina

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